Cruisin' Through a Series: Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

I am jumping on the Vampire Academy bandwagon full force- I even made Grad Student and our mother read them.  I reviewed book one here, but then read the rest so fast I didnt have time for individual reviews, so here goes my series  review, what we call "Crusin' Through a Series" when we stop living our lives and devote time to a single series. Sometimes this has to happen. And its spoiler free, of course!

• Originality: 7- good/ bad vamps.  I know that Twilight did this ( and actually once I had an ex-boyfriend buy me a bad vamp poster as a joke when it was way marked down on sale... and I have to admit it was for a reason, even teenage girls didn't want the bad vamps on their walls, and he was a bad gift giver too,  but I digress) but Vampire Academy did it BETTER.  The good vamps, their guardians, and the bad vamps made an excellent parallel world to human reality that was easy to get lost in.

• Absurdity: 4.  Eh, I found it easy to believe overall, and for a change, as the series progressed, it didn't get weird and out of control.  The plot moved forward with twists and turns, but really, it just got more awesome.  It was great to read a series where the following books didn't disappoint.  I think the most absurd was book two, which happens all over the course of ski trip to Idaho.  I know I read a Babysitter Club with this plot once.

• Level of Paranormal Romance: 15. O ROSE.  Now I know we have some die hard Adrian fans out there, BUT I am Team Dimitri now and for forever.  And the absurdity of books 4-5 and the love triangle is just plan old awesome, and had me routing for love.

• Level of Harry-Potterness: 6.  Loved the story, loved the characters and how they grew, cause they did, and most of all, loved the bad-assery of our main character Rose.  Thank you to Richelle Mead for making a character who was strong and hot, and knew it, and didn't mope around sadly and insecurely for a few hungred pages before 'finding' herself.  While Rose does change, she is still always a badass and I love her for it.

“If he wants to tell you, he'll tell you. End of story, Rose. Besides, you certainly keep your share of secrets too. You two have a lot in common."
"Are you kidding? He's arrogant, sarcastic, likes to intimidate people, and—oh." Okay. Maybe she had a point.” 

Great series.  I will probably buy these in paperback for myself, and as a devoted library reader, that is the high form of compliment I can give a book.